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The Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) subway opened in 1904. The city contracted construction of the line to the IRT Company, ownership was always held by the city. The IRT built, equipped, and operated the line under a lease from the city. Its route followed today’s 4-5-6 line from City Hall to Grand Central, then turned west and followed today’s shuttle line, and then north at Times (Longacre) Square following the 1-2-3 lines to 145 Street and Broadway. Service to the Bronx was established in 1905 (actually the Bronx portion opened in 1904 from 149 St 3rd Avenue to Bronx Pk as a branch of the 3rd Avenue El, while the Harlem River Tunnel was being completed). The line was quickly extended to Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, in 1908. The IRT also leased the Manhattan Railway elevated lines – the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 9th Avenue Elevated lines in Manhattan and the Bronx for 999 years! Subway canvas prints look great in offices.

The Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit (BMT, formerly the Brooklyn Rapid Transit, BRT) was the rapid transit company which built, bought, or assumed control of the Brooklyn elevated lines (the Culver, West End, Lexington, Myrtle, Broadway, Fulton St and Fifth Ave Els, of which the Culver, West End, Broadway and part of the Myrtle still exist, and the ground-level extensions to southern Brooklyn, of which the Sea Beach and Brighton Beach were rebuilt for subway service. A portion of the Fulton Street El also remains as it was rebuilt as an extension of IND A train service to the Rockaways in the 1950s. Subway canvas prints make the perfect gift.

Beginning in 1913, the city embarked on a project called the Dual Contracts, under which the city built additional lines that were operated as part of the IRT and BMT systems. Finished mostly by 1920, some of the new lines (the Flushing and the Astoria lines in Queens) had trains operated by both companies. The Dual Contracts IRT lines were the Seventh Ave (south from Times Square) and Lexington Ave (north from Grand Central) lines, the Jerome, White Plains Road and Pelham Bay Park branches in the Bronx, and the Brooklyn lines beyond Atlantic Ave. The BMT lines were the Broadway Subway and Nassau Street Subway in Manhattan, the 14th St-Eastern District line from Manhattan to Brooklyn, and Fourth Ave, West End, and Culver lines in Brooklyn. Connections were also made to the company’s Sea Beach and Brighton Beach lines. Subway canvas prints are fun to collect.